Hey guys. This is just something I randomly wrote...I was in this kind of mood and thought, hey, let's give this a try. It's different than everything else I write-the mood alone is completely different. The ending is really vague...I kinda left it open to your imaginations, but I think it came out pretty well. Why not give it a try? Who know? You might like it. :)
For those of you who read my Austin & Ally crossover with Percy Jackson...don't worry, new chapter is up and that's still my main priority. :)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Chronicles of Narnia or anything else you recognize.
It's been a dark gloomy year for Susan Pevensie. Exactly a year ago, her entire family had died in a horrible train wreck. Every single member of her family was gone. Since then, she had moved to America to study and start a new life. She just couldn't stand living in England—everything, everywhere, reminded her of her family.
Susan especially missed her siblings—her eldest brother, Peter, who always had a sense of adventure; her younger brother Edmund, who was just and had a great eye for catching small details; and her sister Lucy, who was always happy and saw the bright side of things. It's been a year since they died, but Susan still couldn't believe that they were gone. She was still in denial. Surely, when she got home, Peter and Edmund would be there, arguing about some ridiculous topic, and Lucy would ramble on about fauns, dwarves, queens, centaurs, and some mouse that could talk. It was all her imagination—nonsense—if you asked Susan, but she would give anything to get her siblings back. Anything.
The wind blew harder, and Susan wrapped her coat tighter around herself. She'd just finished her afternoon classes at the university, and was now walking home. Since it was so windy, she decided to take the subway instead. As she was waiting on the platform for the train to arrive, she felt someone pinch her. But when she looked around, there was no one there. In face there was no one next to her, or even close enough to touch her. Huh. Strange. Brushing it off, Susan was about to take a book out of her bag to read when she felt the pinch again, this time, harder.
"Ow," Susan said out loud. "Quit pinching me."
A few people looked at her strangely.
"Sorry," she muttered. The pinch came again, this time accompanied by a strong wind. Not here too! Susan thought as she pulled her coat tighter around her. Again, the pinch came, and so did the wind. This time, it blew away some of the bricks of the train tunnel. Papers began to fly all over the place, and bricks became loose as the train tunnel began to disappear.
Susan looked around her as she tried to keep her balance. Surely, someone noticed the disappearing train station! Yet, no one seemed to notice. Was she going crazy? Susan looked toward the opening of the train tunnel, only to be blinded by a bright white light. When her vision returned, she opened her eyes and blinked. Where was she? How did she get on a beach? What happened to the train station? What happened to the wind? And most disturbing of all, why did she feel as if she'd been here before? Susan had a vague memory of the place. But how was even possible? She searched her mind for an answer, but it was as if the memory was buried deep within memories and couldn't be pulled out.
Determined to find out where she was, Susan stepped out of the safety of the cave and ventured down onto the beach. She followed the path up to what looked like an old castle. What was this place? Amazed, she turned around in a circle. Wow. There was the throne room, where four kings and queens sat; the meeting room, where war plans and trips were discussed with lords and creatures. There was the treasure room, where she and her brother and sister had stored the gifts they had received from Father Christmas all those years ago. Unconsciously, she began to walk toward the room.
Yes, there was her bow and arrows, and her horn; Lucy's healing cordial, and dagger; and Peter's shield and sword. She touched the weapons, remembering how she'd used it in the battle against the White Witch the first time they went to—
Susan froze. Where had all those thought come from? Where was this place? Why had she been here with her siblings? Was she a queen? Her brain seemed to think so. She needed help. If only there was a way to get help…
"My horn!" Susan exclaimed out loud. Didn't help come when she blew it? Susan had no idea if it actually worked, but it was worth a try. Taking a deep breath, she raised the ivory horn to her lips and blew it. A nice, deep resonating sound came out of the instrument. Now all she had to do was to sit down and wait. To keep herself entertained, she found a distant apple to shoot at. Standing relatively far away, she drew her bow, took a deep breath, aimed, and released the arrow. Her form was perfect, her aim was true. The apple thudded to the ground.
Susan grinned. That felt good. It was as if some missing part of her had come back and made her whole. Again and again, she shot her arrows. Curiously, her quiver never emptied. In fact, for every arrow she shot, one seemed to replace it. Susan remembered her shooting match with the dwarf Trumpkin. She remembered coming back to this place to help save the boy prince Caspian from his uncle Miraz, who would have loved to kill his nephew. She remembered the beavers, a faun named Tumnus, centaurs, naiads and dryads, leopards, and, most stunning of all, a lion—the king of all kings.
She knew he was the one who had created this land. She remembered feasts, battles, dances, journeys, people, and creatures, and scenes of the adventures she'd had with her sibling in this land. And the lion—the lion was everywhere—feasting with them, walking with them, crowning them, and even sacrificing his own life to save Edmund's. So why couldn't she remember the lion's name? Susan thought long and hard about it. She searched every nook and cranny of her brain for the answer, with no such luck. A name did surface, however, and it was the name of this land—Narnia.
Suddenly, the castle disappeared, and in front of her stood the great lion himself. Where had she gone? Where had he come from? But that didn't really matter right now. All that mattered was that he was here now. His golden eyes were fixated on her, barely moving. Only the wind blowing through his mane showed that he was real. Instinctively, she knelt down in front of the great king, waiting for him to say something.
The lion remained silent, so Susan remained kneeling in front of him. Her missing memories came flooding back, connecting themselves together to form a movie inside her mind. She watched as the four of them went into the wardrobe, battled the White Witch, became the kings and queens of Narnia, leave, return to the land, battle Miraz and the Telmarines, and leave again for the last time. Every little detail came back to her, as if they had never left at all.
Now that she knew all of this was real, she was mad at herself. Why in the world had she let herself believe that all this was just a dream? Why hadn't she listened to Peter, Edmund, and Lucy? Why hadn't she believed them when they tried to convince her that Narnia was, in fact, real? She was so stupid!
Then the lion spoke, interrupting her thoughts. "Welcome home, Susan, Daughter of Eve. We have long been waiting for you."
Susan rose to her feet and ran toward the great lion. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his mane. "I'm so sorry I convinced myself that this place wasn't real. I'm so sorry I didn't believe Peter, Lucy, and Edmund when they tried to convince me that Narnia existed. I'm so sorry I was so eager to grow up! Please…please forgive me."
The great lion chuckled. "All is forgiven, dear one. What's done is done. There is no need to dwell in the past."
A thought suddenly pierced Susan's thoughts. "You won't send me away, will you? Like the last time I was here? I can't stand it back home without Perter, Edmund, and Lucy. It's just been so different and miserable without them. Oh, I'd give anything, anything, to see them again." Susan was an emotional wreck now. After her brothers and sister had died, she'd kept all her emotions to herself. She never cried, never talked about it. And now, a year later, here she was spilling her guts to the lion. "Please let me stay," she whispered.
"You may stay, if you answer one question."
"Yes! Yes! Anything. I'll answer anything." Susan lifted her face.
"What is my name?"
Susan's face fell. What was his name? Deep down, she knew this was some kind of test—to see if her heart was in the right place. She knew his name—she just couldn't seem to recall.
The golden eyes of the great lion stared at her calmly. The lion, the King of all kings, creator of Narnia, Emperor of the Lone Islands. He had saved her and her siblings' lives countless times. He was real. He was here, and she believed in him. She tried him with her life. So what was his name?
A single word appeared in her mind, and she immediately blurted it out in relief. "Aslan!"
He nodded his head. "That is correct. You are a true friend of Narnia once again, Queen Susan the Gentle. Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia. But this is different from shadow Narnia. This is the real Narnia, where all Narnians moved into when the old Narnia was destroyed. Here, you may do anything you want. You don't need to worry about anything. The further up you go, the more real things become. Now come, daughter of Eve. Climb on my back. We're going to meet your brothers and sister. They are waiting for you."
"Oh Aslan, you mean—" Susan's heart leapt with joy.
"Yes, dear one. When Peter, Edmund, and Lucy died in that train wreck, they were sent here. They are waiting for you, further up and further in."
"What do you mean—oh." She nodded in understanding as another, more real, Castle Cair Paravel appeared. As they ran further, more appeared. Finally, Aslan stopped in front of one.
The Lion opened his mouth a roared. Susan slid off his back and stood next to him. She saw three figures running toward them—a boy with golden hair, a boy with black hair, and a pretty girl with fair hair. They were still far off, but Susan could recognize them anywhere. It was Peter, Edmund, and Lucy.
When the three of them skidded to a stop, Susan knew she had been spotted. They stood there and stared at her. Susan couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. What would her siblings say after all the times she had written them off? Would they hate her? Would they forgive her? What should she say? Apologize?
She glanced at Aslan for reassurance, and he nodded his great big head and nudged her forward. Susan began to walk toward her siblings, who stood there, opened mouthed, with shock.
Lucy was the first to recover. "Susan!" she yelled, running to meet her older sister. "Susan!"
Fresh tears sprang into Susan's eyes and she ran forward to meet her sister. The two hugged tightly, and when they pulled away, more arms wrapped around her. Edmund. She gladly hugged her younger brother. After two minutes of hugging, she stepped back and looked at Peter, who still hadn't move. She glanced at Lucy and Edmund, sighed, and walked toward her older brother.
"Peter."
Peter remained silent.
"Peter?" Susan asked again.
"Come on, Pete," Edmund said, elbowing his brother. "Susan's here. Say something."
Peter blinked. "You left Narnia. What kind of queen—high queen—are you?"
Lucy gasped. "Peter! She's your sister! And I'm sure she didn't mean to forget Narnia…it just sort of happened."
"No, Lucy, its' okay," Susan turned to face Peter. "I know," she said simply.
"And you continued to—"
"I know."
"And you abandoned—"
"I know."
"You forgot Aslan," Peter finally got out a full sentence.
"I know. And I'm sorry. I was being stupid, being selfish. I wanted to grow up so bad that I didn't listen to you. If I would take it back, I would. Trust me, I feel so bad that I convinced myself that Narnia was make believe. I was miserable until I got here."
Peter remained silent.
"Please forgive me."
"Of course we forgive you!" Lucy quickly said.
"Yeah," Edmund added. "Right, Peter? Peter? Pete?" The young king glared at his older brother.
The three of them held their breaths, waiting for the High King's response. Peter seemed to weigh the options.
Finally, he spoke. "Welcome home, Susan." He wrapped her in a tight hug, which she gladly returned. "We missed you so much."
Like I said, not my usual writing style, but...
The ending: I felt it was appropriate to end it there, that it wouldn't fell right if I continued it, since the whole story is about Susan's return to Narnia. A lot of loose ends here that I didn't tie up...like I said, that's completely up to you.
Hope you liked it! Let me know by leaving a review.
~amillipede